US SC keeps Trump's refugee ban in place

The US Supreme Court has allowed President Donald Trump to broadly implement a ban on refugees entering the country from around the world. The justices are scheduled to hear arguments October 10 on the legality of the bans on travelers from six mostly Muslim countries and refugees anywhere in the world.

The decision affects 24,000 refugees, who the Supreme Court agreed did not qualify for the definition of a "bona fide relationship" simply by receiving a formal assurance from a resettlement agency.

The Supreme Court's decision, which they presented without opinion or explanation, marked a shift from lower court rulings, which had ruled in favor of easing the ban and would have allowed up to 24,000 refugees who all have assurances from sponsors to enter the the USA over the next several weeks, according to the AP.

A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit had interpreted a Supreme Court directive this summer to mean that such refugees should be allowed in, but the government objected.

Earlier on Tuesday the state of Hawaii, which challenged the policy, said in a court filing that the US government could still "bar tens of thousands of refugees from entering the country". The ruling would have taken effect Tuesday without the high court's intervention.

The new order did not deal in any way with another controversial part of the Trump executive order on immigration - the attempt to keep out at least some foreign nationals from six Mideast nations with Muslim-majority populations.

Hawaii opposed the request, but the court granted the stay in a one-sentence order on Tuesday afternoon.

The administration also said relationships between refugees and resettlement agencies were too attenuated to qualify for an exception to the ban because the arrangements had been made by an intermediary, the government. That ruling is now stayed pending further action by the high court.

If that order was not, in fact, meant to be temporary only, then it could be in effect until the court holds its hearing next month on the legality of the Trump order. Then, the justices will hear arguments on the legality of banning both travelers refugees.

The attorneys general of California, Maine, Maryland and Minnesota filed a joint lawsuit at a federal court in northern California, following a similar decision last week by a coalition of 15 states as well as the District of Colombia that houses the capital Washington.

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